Miho At Nishmari middle school
by Theblazepanzer24
Summary: Set three years before the events of Girls und Panzer. After their middle school academy had to be temporarily closed due to engine problems, Miho and Erika had to attend a year at Nishmari Co-ed academy. New friends and a new Sensado adventure await the two transfers. Prequel to Her Reluctance!
1. Prolouge: Gathering for a tale

**Blazepanzer here, and this is a kind of a prologue to my "Her reluctance," Fanfic. **

**Well...I say prologue, but it actually takes place way back three years ago, and is told mostly from Miho's POV. **

**With that being said, enjoy! Blazepanzer does not own Girls und Panzer.**

**Flashback: Three years ago:**

"T-7 to all teams, Break formation and fire at will," Miho ordered, as her T-50 sped ahead, aiming for the Panzer III in front of them.

"T-13 just took a hit!"

"Little Dossie, are you alright?" Miho gasped through the radio.

"Yeah, I'm fine commander, give them hell for me," Little Dossie growled, annoyed.

_Big Dossie isn't going to like that, even if she'll comfort her younger sister those two really hate being knocked out too early in a competition. _Miho thought, before noticing her gunner had taken out an enemy tank.

"Nice going Yukaro," Miho smiled.

"Any time."

She mentally sighed as the son of Nishmari's head barber shop simply turned his focus on his other target. _Yukaro could stand to be a little bit more animated,_ Miho complained. _Then again, his best friend Hanoashi isn't all that different in some ways,_ she argued, glancing at her reddish-orange haired driver briefly.

A sudden and rather loud crack followed by a slight tilting of the tank told her that the T-50 had lost one of it's tracks.

"Sorry Commander, I tried to evade, but I didn't see it in time," Hanoashi apologized.

"It's fine Blaze," Miho reassured her, right as Yukaro managed to take out his other target, A 38-T

"Seems like the enemy is retreating," Erika mused. "Shall we pursue?"

"No, let's take a moment to take in the situation," Miho ordered as a tank pulled up beside her and started fixing the T-50's tread.

"We've lost three tanks, Two BT-7's and a T-26. We would have lost you too had Katoni-san not pulled to the right just then," the commander of the allied tank, a T-80, reported."

**Miho POV: Present day**

"Miho, you alright?"

"Uh...yeah, just daydreaming about my time at Nishmari Middle school," she assured her friend.

"You know, I'd like to hear more about your time there, if that's okay," Hana asked.

"I'm not sure..." Miho began.

"Oh come on, I was going to tell Ren and Fei about our time at Nishmari middle as well, so why don't we tell it together."

Miho glanced at Hanoashi, her old friend smiling gently with Ren and Fei standing beside her. Hanoashi was temporally in command of the newly christened Churchill III, aka the Armadillo team. Though originally she only rejoined as a loader for the 38T Hertzer, also known as the turtle team for the length of the winter cup.

Hanoashi had actually joined the Sensado program at the start of the school year, but after an argument over safety with the former instructor, and nearly getting expelled for said argument, she joined the Archery team. She did however temporary rejoin the team during the finals after it was discovered that Ooarai would be closed if they didn't win the finals, and while she didn't participate in the university match, she had agreed to rejoin for the winter cup for a bit in order to help the PR manager obtain a Sensado collage scholarship.

Ren and Fei, meanwhile, had joined up with the Sensado team after they where rescued from Ooarai's underground. They had been held captive by an a delinquent named Rum, who ran an illegal bar, forcing the two to work there just for a meal and water. During a scouting mission which Miho had also taken part, Hanoashi and one Ayumi Yamagou, the gunner of the M3 lee's 75mm gun, had been held captive for a day and likewise been forced to work alongside Ren and Fei.

After been rescued by Rikona Matsumino, Ooarai's High Heiress, and her Heiress defense force along Ooarai's other emergency and police forces, Aacob, Hanoashi's adopted sister, offered to drive the tank they discovered, a British mark V. However, Rikona ended up trading it for a British Churchill III. It was then that Ren and Fei joined, with Ren offering to drive and Fei offering her skills as the radio operator.

"I guess it's okay," Miho shrugged. "But it might take a while," she warned.

"I've heard a lot of stories from my brother, but there's still a lot I don't know," Yukari admitted.

"I want to hear too!" A groggy voice muttered from the driver's seat as Mako popped out.

"Ah, Mako, when did you get here?" Saroi gasped.

"I left a little early because I wanted to take a small break," Mako muttered in a mater of fact tone.

"Mako, remember, if you skip class like this your grandma's going to get mad at you," Saori threatened.

"That'd be a problem," Mako muttered.

_This whole conversations sound a bit familiar...somehow I'm getting Deja-vu from it, _Miho sighed inwardly. "Anyways, I guess since Blaze-san's okay with it, we ought to get started. Our story together is going to take a while," she cautioned.

"Blaze-san?" Hana asked, gazing at Hanoashi intently.

" My nickname," Hanoashi groaned. "It was initially created due to my hair color," Hanoashi sighed. "And before you ask, yes, it's natural," she added, shrugging.

"She hates it when people assume she dyes her hair," Miho explained mischievously, poking her red haired friend.

"Hay," the blaze-haired girl laughed good naturally. "But yeah, you can't imagine how annoying it is. First day at Ooarai, my Sensei actually sent be to the office...twice, before marching me down there after the principle sent me back to class. Still, it made my day to see her face flush red with embarrassment after learning that...yes...I did in fact have natural reddish-orange hair," Hanoashi added.

"Well, if it's going to take some time we'd better get started," Mako yawned.

Miho smiled indulgently. "Well...it started over three years ago..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Blazepanzer here with the long awaited release of chapter 2! I'm sorry that this took so long to release, and I'd like to thank all of you who's read my story so far! **

**With that being said, enjoy! Blazepanzer does not own Girls und Panzer!**

Outside the student apartment complex the weather was warm and gentle, with the occasional slight breeze flowing through the local flora.

_Most people who went to school here at Nishmari are either citizens or are seeking out employment in agriculture or similar jobs_, Miho thought to herself. _It's funny how I'm the only oddball in the mix._

Miho had originally gone to school on the Yakomoto middle school academy, however an issue with the ship's nuclear reactor core saw an emergency dry-docking on the ship, thus resulting in the students being transferred to various ships. Admittedly there where only a small handful of middle school academy ships as most parents preferred for their kids to attend school on land, but some didn't

Unfortunately with most of the ship schools already filled to capacity, she and her fellow school-mates where shuffled into whatever schools they could fit. Maho had unfortunately been sent to Tokyo middle school, so Miho had found herself bummed out about it.

_Well...at any rate I've got to head off to school,_ Miho mused, feeling nervous about her first day. Truth be told she hadn't even heard of Nishmari until she had been transferred to the school, and she had no idea what to expect.

She opted for a short sleeve beige shirt and a matching skirt, as Nishmari middle school didn't have a standard uniform.

Of course the school did have various standards, girls where to wear short sleeves or sleeveless polos in the summer and neat-looking sweaters or long sleeve dress shirts in the winter. What was peculiar was that all girls where required to wear a watch, though no other jewelry could be worn. In her case she opted for a simple leather watch her mother had gotten for her.

Stepping out of her apartment, making certain to shut the door, Miho soon found herself enjoying the warm sunny weather. Nishmari sure is nice, she mused as she walked past various wheat and corn fields along the side of the roads. After a bit she paused, gazing out at the gentle waves of grain flowing in the wind.

_Ah...this is so relaxing!_ Miho gushed silently. _I feel as though I could watch this forever!_

"Ah... Katoni-Chan!"

Miho gazed around instinctively as a twin tail girl called out. _She looks Japanese...I guess that makes sense though since this is a Japanese town, even if it was founded by the Americans after the war._

"Aya-chan, good morning!"

That must be this Katoni girl, Miho guessed, surprise taking her when she realized that, despite having a Japanese sounding last name, the girl in question was definitely not Japanese. Katoni had a kind of reddish-ginger hair, with green eyes and a slightly reddish tint to her skin. She appeared to be more or less Irish, and wore a sleeveless white shirt with blue borders, as well as a matching blue skirt. Her watched appeared to be a simple dual wire watch with a 15mm length case, had she guessed.

Aya on the other hand had black hair and blue eyes, with cream collared skin. Unlike Katoni, she wore a green short sleeve dress shirt with matching pants.

_Katoni appears to be rather laid back but Aya appears to be the more serious type,_ Miho analyzed.

"You're the new kid, aren't you?"

Miho jumped as a girl about her age spoke to her. She had long blond hair and blue eyes, appearing to be a mix of Russian and Japanese.

"Didn't mean to spook you mate," the girl smiled. "Name's Argo, second year at Nishmari middle school."

"Oh...I'm Miho Nishisumi," Miho bowed politely.

"Nice to meet you, Kohai," Argo laughed.

"We're the same age! Aren't we?" Miho protested, glancing away.

"Yeah, but Nishmari has some really wacky class schedule. Let's just say that...whatever year you where in outside of this town, you're a year behind inside it."

"But...but I worked hard to become a second year!" Miho pouted.

"Yeah yeah...keep you're bra on," Argo muttered. "When you head back, you'll be a third year, don't you worry," Argo promised. "It's just that we at Nishmari start school a year later and teach fast."

"Eh?" Miho let out.

"Why do you think Shiho chose for you to come to this school?" Argo teased as she began poke Miho gently.

"Cu...cut that out!" Miho gasped, giggling as Argo's poking felt more like tickling. "And what do you mean?"

"Ah yeah...that," Argo smiled. "My best customer, paid me 20,000 yen to research what school would fit you best," she admitted.

"My mom paid you to..." Miho paused, too stunned to continued.

"Yeah, said she wanted a school that would challenge you, with a relatively new Sensado team and other what-not requirements." Argo clarified.

"But...why?" Miho tipped her head. This just keeps getting more and more confusing.

"Don't you know?" Argo smiled. "Us Argo's are renowned info-brokers."

"Info-brokers?" Suddenly it clicked for her. "Ah...I get where you're coming from now," Miho exclaimed.

"Yeah...it's a full time job, but I like it," Argo smiled. "Us Argo's have been doing this for centuries," she added cheerfully."

"Centuries?" Miho tipped her head.

"Yeah...I come from a long line of ninjas." Argo clarified.

"Wait...can you...um...run on water and stuff?" Miho asked dubiously.

"Um...guess again, my family where the information kinda of Ninja. Ya know, scouting and spying and such."

"Oh...I'm sorry," Miho bowed, her face heating up in embarrassment.

"Nah, it's alright Miho," Argo accepted, before poking her again. "At any rate we need to get to class or we'll be late," she added teasingly.

"Yea...ha ha...can you please stop, that tickles," Miho burst out laughing.

"Sorry, sorry, you're just so funny to tease," Argo laughed.

"Good morning, Argo," a voice joined them.

"Ah...good morning Hanoashi-san," Argo bowed.

_So the Katoni girl has a Japanese first name as well. So does that mean she was born here?_ Miho wondered.

"So this is the new girl, right?" Hanoashi asked before bowing. "It's nice to meet you miss, my name is Hanoashi Katoni," she added.

"Oh...Miho Nishizumi," Miho bowed. _I never imagined I'd be speaking to her this soon!_ Miho thought.

"Katoni! Sensai Misaki wishes for you to watch the class for her briefly!"

"Hai, I'll be right over!" Hanoashi called back before bowing to her. "Sorry Nishisumi-Simpai, I've got to go. Maybe we'll talk later though?"

"Sure," Miho smiled shyly. "I'm looking forward to it!" She added as she watched as Hanoashi took off at a decent pace, who glanced back at Miho briefly.

"Now that is one hard working Ko-hai," Argo mused. "Not the prettiest girl in the world, mind you, but still a pretty good looker none-the less and she has a great start on them assets too."

_Assets? What do you mean...oh..._ Miho blushed as she realized what Argo was referring to. _Well...she looks pretty enough, I guess, but thinking about people's chest sizes makes me feel...uneasy,_ she mused to herself. "She seems to be a hard worker, I'll give her that," Miho agreed.

"Yeah, at any rate we need to get to class, Come along, I'll show you the way to the office." Argo offered.

It took them about a half hour for them to arrive to the school. "Wow!" Miho gasped in surprise. "So this is what a small town school looks like."

"Well...sort of," Argo laughed. "We technically serve education for the youth, namely those of Nishmari's total fifteen thousand."

"Wait...Nishmari's that big?" Miho gasped.

"Kinda," Argo shrugged. To tell you the truth though. We usually have about 800 students from Nishmari proper, the smaller towns and villages that make up Nishmari county. The school, along with the hospital and other whatnot is mostly located in Nishmari proper, of which your apartment complex sits just on the outskirts of."

"So that's why I have to pass though a string of cow pastures!" Miho exclaimed.

"Yep!" Argo smiled. "Welp, it's been fun and all, but I've got to be off."

Miho watched her go before something else caught her eye. Two girls where hanging out, one of them was missing her left hand where as the other seemed to have slightly discolored arms and legs._ That's odd_, she mused, glancing away quickly to try and avoid seeming rude.

Miho sighed as she entered the classroom, unsure of herself. _I hope we can all get along,_ she fretted.

"Alright class, let me introduce you to your new classmate," her teacher announced, patting her on the shoulder briefly in comfort. "Miss Miho Nishisumi will be joining us for the rest of the year, considering Kumamoto Middle School Academy is in port for heavy repairs."

"H...hi" Miho stammered. "My name is Miho. I...I hope we get along well."

"Don't be so nervous, they don't bite," Her teacher whispered.

"Can the new student sit by me, Misaka Sensei?"

Glancing around, Miho realized the voice came from a ginger haired girl who sat close to the window. _That was fast...I wonder if ...um...Hanoashi was her name? Yeah, I wonder if she's trying to get in with the Nishisumi clan? I mean, mother always said to be cautious about that. _

"That will be fine Miss Katoni, thank you for offering," Misaka praised. "Don't worry Miss Nishisumi, Hanoashi will take good care of you," she encouraged.

Walking up and sitting by the girl, Miho gazed at her quizzically. "So...you're Hanoashi Katoni, right?" Miho asked polity, wanting to be sure to get her name right.

"Yep, though you can just call me Hanoashi...or Blaze," the girl smiled.

_She speaks Japanese perfectly and has a native name too. Although by her body shape, hair color, and ethnicity she looks like a total foreigner. Not that there is anything wrong with that,_ Miho mused.

"Hey, why can't I call you Blaze?" A girl behind them whined.

"You started that silly name," Hanoashi admitted, crossing her arms.

"I said I was sorry!" Said girl protested.

"And I forgave you," Hanoashi snorted. "But you still gotta wait till next year before calling me by my nickname," she added playfully.

_A playful vendetta or is this some joke I'm missing,_ Miho analyzed quickly.

"Fine," the girl sighed. "But I'm going to call you Blaze next year all the time and you aren't going to get away with it," she whined.

"Oh...by the way, Miho, this is one of my good friends, Tamaski." Hanoashi smiled. "That boy in front of you is Yukaro, and the other girl beside you is Aya," she added.

"Oh...It's nice to see you," Miho smiled.

"Likewise," Yukaro was the first to reply. "Shame Yukari isn't here, though." he added sheepishly.

"Yukari?" Miho asked curiously. Who's that?

Yukaro nodded. "My younger sister. She's always into tanks and strikes up a good conversation with anyone heavily associated with tanks."

"It might be a good thing she isn't then," Hanoashi argued. "Miho needs to be seen as Miho, not the Nishisumi everyone expects her to be," she added.

_What exactly does she mean by that?_ Miho wondered.

"Awe...you're so sweet," Aya laughed. "But yeah, you are right, Miho needs to be welcomed here for being Miho," she added. "Not for being a Nishisumi."

"You guys," Miho whispered, touched their acceptance of her.

"We want to be your friend, not because you are famous, but because...well, we want to be friends," Tamaski admitted.

"Thanks," Miho smiled.

**Ooarai, present day:**

"So that's pretty much how things went for the first half of the day," Miho smiled.

"So were you friends with Hanoashi as well, Yukari?" Hana asked.

Yukari shrugged. "I'd say we grew to be friends eventually, however, at that time me and my brother were kinda separated.

"How come?" Saori asked.

"My great grandfather on my father's side and some of his younger family where being abusive toward my father, so my parents separated for a few years until things calmed down," Yukari admitted.

"That must have been tough" Aacob breathed. "My father had been quite abusive toward me, though he ended up getting killed in a car wreak and afterward, the Katoni adopted me into their own."

A moment of silence erupted from the group until Miho lifted her head up. "Blaze-san, would you like to tell the next part?" she asked.

Hanoashi nodded in response. "Alright then, bust mostly we just had lunch and discussed Nishmari's Sensado team."

**Hanoashi POV: Nishmari **

Glancing at her new classmate, Hanoashi got a better look at her new classmate._ So this is the daughter of Instructor Nishisumi,_ she mused quietly. _Not quite what I had expected, but still...I hope we can becomes friends. _

The lunch bell resounded, causing her to jump up along with the rest of the class. "Bow," Hanoashi bellowed as per order.

"Thank you for the class, Sensei," the class chorused.

Rising up, she couldn't help but notice that Miho was looking a bit lost. "Would you like to have lunch with me?" she asked, smiling gently.

"Oh...uh...sure!" Miho smiled.

"Great! We'd better get to the cafeteria though, lunch ends in a half hour," Hanoasi warned.

"Yeah, wish it was an hour," Miho groaned.

_Why? I personally thought it's about long enough, but whatever,_ she mused silently.

"So...you went to Kumamoto academy?"

Miho nodded. "Yes, me and my sister Maho where attending before the ship had it's issues. She ended up going to Toyko Academy and I ended up here."

"I'm sorry you where split up like that," Hanoashi whispered. "I don't have any siblings but I do have a cousin who lives in Ooarai." she added.

"Ooarai, where...exactly is that?" Miho asked.

"It's on the coastline toward the north," she pointed out. "North of Toyko," she added.

"Are you and Rikona close?"

"Extremely. Some people joke that if one of us was male and we weren't related, we'd be a couple." Hanoashi laughed.

"That's pretty close," Miho breathed.

"What about you and...Maho was it?" Hanoashi asked, gazing at her. "How close are you?"

"I'd say we're really close as well," Mhio smiled. "By the way...is your hair dyed?"

Felling her eye twitch in annoyance, she simply sighed, and stayed quiet for a brief moment.

"Katoni?" Miho asked, her voice filled with uncertainty.

"Sorry, I just get a bit annoyed when people ask me that," she sighed.

"Oh...I didn't know," Miho whispered.

"That's alright Miho." Hanoashi perked up. "There's really not a lot of us Irish here in Japan, so..."

"You are Irish?" she asked.

"Genetically anyways," Hanoashi noted as they arrived in the cafeteria. "Anyways...what club you joining?"

"Sensasdo, though it's kinda on my mother's orders."

"Then it looks like we'll be in the same club them," she mused.

"By the way...what kind of tanks will we be using?" Miho asked.

"Currently we have nine BT-7's, two T-50's, and two Panzer III. Model F's so to speak," she recited.

"Sounds like a rather light arrangement." Miho mused.

"Well, the co-ed leagues operate differently then the girl's league," Hanoashi told her. "We can't use heavy tanks and all of our medium and light tanks are early models, at least here in the middle school leagues," she added.

"Oh I see, what about the high school co-ed leagues, how are they different?" Miho asked.

"Well, for starters they are limited to ten tanks per match, and can only have a maximum of 900mm of armor measured from the thickest armor per tank. Also, their guns cannot measure over 1400 mm of penetration from best common shell type, and no tank can have a gun larger than 100 mm."

"That's quite different from the girl's high school academies."

"I know," Hanoashi noted. "Also, both the middle school and high school co-ed academies used a grid format tournament as apposed to a bracket style format used in the girl's league."

"Grid style?" Miho asked, confused.

"Yep!" Hanoashi smiled gently. Rather than a school getting eliminated if they lose a round, each school faces every school. If you win, then you get a check mark, and if you lose, then you get an X.

"What happens if a school has the same amount of marks after facing every school?" Miho asked.

"Well, during each match, you get a score biased on what you do during the match." she explained. "That score is often used to settle tie breakers, although the two highest teams still have a final's match."

"Sounds complicated. By the way, how is a team's score counted?"

"Accuracy of shots, number of losses, treed repairs and knock outs, excreta," she told her. Under this year's rules, you get five points for every enemy tank you knock out, three for every treed you knock out, two for every tread you repair, and a quarter point for every shot that affects the enemy tank in some way as a bonus."

"That's so complicated," Miho whined, her eyes wide in astonishment.

"It can get complicated. However, the more important thing in our version of Sensado is to win matches." she reassured her.

"What about having fun and the companionship of your teammates?" Miho asked.

"Duh, that's important too, even more so, than actually winning!" Hanoashi laughed. I like the way she thinks about that!, she smiled inwardly.

"Oh, good, you had me worried for a second." Miho sighed.

"Hanoashi!"

"Big Dossie?" Hanoashi asked as a girl with black hair and blue eyes approached.

"You've got to do something about this new student!" Big Dossie hissed.

"Who...Miho?" Hanoashi glanced at her classmate in concern. "She seems alright to me," she added rather gruffly.

"Not her!" Big Dossie huffed back. "Erika," she added. Light blondish hair, blue eyes, she's left several of our boys in depression with her racist remarks about Sensado being only for women."

"Oh...Erika..." Miho glanced away. "Yeah...I've heard some...unpleasant things about her," she added.

"Well well, please do tell," Big Dossie huffed as she whipped around and walked away.

Placing her hand on her friend's shoulder, Hanoashi shook her head. "Try not to let her get you down," she whispered. "I know this Erika chick has nothing to do with you," she added.

"Thanks Hanoashi," Miho whispered softly.

**Present day: **

"Why would you call someone Big?" Hana chided, her blue eyes brimming as she glared at Hanoashi.

"Don't blame her, that's just her name," Miho defended her friend.

"Really?" Hana asked, confused.

Miho nodded. "Her younger sister's name is Little Dossie, believe it or not."

"That's rather unoriginal," Saori deadpanned.

"So is someone naming their child Yukari and Yukaro," Yukari brought up.

"Or Maho and Miho, in me and my sister's case," Miho piped up.

"Um...guys..." Fei brought up. "It's about time for class to start," she added.

"Awe...and things seemed to be getting good as well," Saori whined.

"We could get together after school or this weekend," Hanoashi offered.

"That's a great idea!" Hana smiled. "I'd love to hear more of your past."

"Me too," Mako yawned.

"Then it's settled," Miho smiled.


End file.
